There are plenty of valuable items to hunt and loot in Call of Duty’s DMZ mode, providing either cash, insured weapon cooldowns, or completed mission progress once they are found and exfiltrated. Since the launch of season four and the Wallet, cash is more valuable now that players can choose to deploy with an amount off the bat.
Aside from providing cash, valuable items such as Nuclear Fuel Rods are also important for different upgrades and missions in DMZ. In particular, Nuclear Fuel Rods are key to unlocking Stash upgrades, giving you more space for keys and contraband weapons.
To get those upgrades, though, you’ll need a good amount of Nuclear Fuel Rods, which can be pretty tough if you don’t know where to start looking.
Finding Nuclear Fuel Rods in DMZ
Complete a Secure Nuclear Materials contract
The easy way to find Nuclear Fuel Rods is by completing any Secure Nuclear Materials contract on any DMZ map.
On each DMZ map, there are typically three or four different Secure Nuclear Materials contracts that can be picked up. Starting a Secure Nuclear Materials contract will first have you find a Geiger Counter, which you will then use to locate two or three nuclear caches that each contain Nuclear Fuel Rods.
Related: All DMZ upgrades and how to unlock them
Once you have a Geiger Counter, head to one of the marked zones and hold down your tactical equipment ability to read it. You want the number to go up as you move forward, and the closer you get to 10, the closer you are to the stash. Once you find the stash, interact with it like you would with any typical loot container.
When the Secure Nuclear Materials contract is complete, you can try and run to another contract and complete that one too. With the Geiger Counter already equipped, it will have you go straight to the zone where the cache will be. Be aware, however—there aren’t many of these missions in the field, so it’s a first-in, best-dressed deal.
Finding Nuclear Fuel Rods in Koschei Complex and Building 21
The Koschei Complex and Building 21 areas have also yielded Nuclear Fuel Rods. One such entrance to the Koschei Complex at Taraq Villiage has been my go-to when upgrading my Stash and collecting the rods.
Enter the Complex via the entrance under the bridge, then push through the flooded Barracks. Along the way, you should find Nuclear Fuel Rods scattered around the area, particularly in the underwater section of the map.
Ideally, bring the Geiger Counter from the Secure Nuclear Materials contract as it makes it very easy to find the rods. I found as many as four in the Barracks before pushing to the Complex exfil elevator in the Chemical Plant. It’s a high-risk, high-reward move but it might just yield you results as it did for me.
There isn’t a particular location for Nuclear Fuel Rods in Building 21. I’ve seen them pop up in the underground car park, as well as outside the Generator Room from time to time, so I wouldn’t recommend gearing up and entering the zone just for the rods.
While the Nuclear Fuel Rods sell for a nice $5,000 each, you will have to extract them to earn progress toward the Stash upgrade. If all else fails and you need the cash, sell them at a Buy Station.
